Kelly McParland: If Brown was a real leader he wouldn't be derailing his own party

It was never going to be easy to defeat the Liberals in June. But despite the chaos, the PCs are still leading the polls. They can still win. Brown is wrecking that opportunity

Ontario Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown takes to the stage to address supporters and the media in Toronto on Sunday February 18, 2018. The former party leader resigned his position after sexual misconduct allegations, only to re-enter race for his vacated position after refuting the allegations.Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Patrick Brown has every right to feel aggrieved at the turn his career took three weeks ago.

Blindsided by a last-minute call from CTV, which was preparing to go to air with allegations that were certain to destroy his position as Ontario’s Progressive Conservative leader — not to mention his reputation and any self-respect he might have — he had just hours to respond before he was hounded from the legislature by a swarm of reporters.

The accusations were unproven and remain so, but it didn’t matter. In the Internet age — and in particular the #MeToo moment in which all men are created guilty — the instant they were made public he was dead as a potential premier. CTV’s token offer to let him respond would have done nothing to alleviate that fact; any denial would merely been tacked onto the story as the howling mobs of social media seized their pitchforks and Internet feeds in ritual denunciation.

It wasn’t fair, but politics isn’t fair. It never has been. Brown’s subsequent response — a fierce effort to clear his name by raising serious questions about the allegations — is entirely justified. If the claims are false, there is no need to wither and die just because someone has made them.

Ontario PC leadership candidate Christine Elliott has previously said that Brown would be able to run for leadership if he can clear his name in time.JAMES MASTERS /
OWEN SOUND SUN TIMES

But if politics is unfair, Brown chose it as his career and should have understood that fact. If similar charges had been levelled against a Liberal opponent, he would no doubt have been happy to exploit and benefit from them. While he has the right to fight for his name, he is entirely wrong to do so at the expense of the party he led, as he is now doing. The damage he’s inflicting undermines any claim he has to public sympathy.

Despite what Brown and his remaining friends and supporters may think, the party had no choice but to free itself from him. With the perverse exception of Donald Trump, no party could hope to enter an election led by an accused sexual abuser and hope to be taken seriously. Trump’s subsequent record of chaos and incompetence demonstrates precisely why his is no example to follow. Political parties exist to promote their beliefs and values, not to champion any one individual at all costs.

The only reasonable path for the PCs was the one taken. Brown had to be removed from his position and given the chance to prove his innocence. If he had succeeded he could have counted on public sympathy to fuel a return. Inevitably, it would take time. Even if false, the stain created by the allegations would not be easy to erase. That’s the ugly underbelly of #MeTooism: there’s a lot of collateral damage along with the Harvey Weinsteins and Roy Moores.

Brown needed to be diligent and patient. Instead, he’s raised his own mob and is counterattacking, at the expense his party. The PCs are less than three weeks from choosing a replacement; they needed an opportunity to run a serious, dignified race and choose a legitimate new leader capable of offering Ontarians a viable alternative to the tired, bloated regime of Premier Kathleen Wynne, who is now limping along with a 69 per cent disapproval rating. Instead they’ve got a circus act in which they struggle to distance himself from Brown while he competes to draw attention to his sideshow.

The #MeToo movement has unleashed a wave of accountability over those who sexually exploit, with victims of sexual harassment and assault coming out to the public about their experiences. However’s there’s an ugly underbelly to the movement: thereâs a lot of collateral damage along with the Harvey Weinsteins and Roy Moores.BERTRAND GUAY /
AFP

On the day of the first debate among his would-be successors he was busy giving interviews that were bound to steal away much of the spotlight. On Thursday he dismissed suggestions he was still technically party leader, tweeting that “I am solely focused on clearing my name, not technicalities.” Yet the next day he suddenly declared his name cleared and jumped into the race, just two hours before the deadline expired.

In doing so he demonstrated a lack of judgment which should, in itself, disqualify him from serving as premier. While he has succeeded in poking holes in the claims against him, he remains a long way from erasing them. By pretending otherwise he is bringing nothing but unneeded disruption to the PC party, and making clear that, for Brown, nothing matters to him as much as himself. Should he somehow win back the leadership, voters are unlikely to be as forgiving as the rump of loyalists who continue to stand by him, blind to the electoral drubbing a Brown-led party would risk.

With the exception of the hot-headed Tanya Granic Allen, the other leadership contestants had been relatively kind to Brown, indicating he would be free to run as a party candidate if he succeeded in clearing his name. In response Brown spent the weekend attacking them for renouncing parts of the “People’s Guarantee” platform he introduced.

“The notion that we’re going to develop our policy platform all over again right in the midst of an election campaign is irresponsible,” he said. “We shouldn’t be doing what is convenient and easy during a leadership campaign, we should be doing what is right, and what is right for Ontario.”

Brown has repeatedly denied the allegations and jumped into the race for Ontario PC leadership just two hours before the deadline expired, declaring his name cleared.Craig Robertson /
Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network

The truth is that much of the People’s Guarantee was never popular among many Tory supporters, who saw it as a Liberal-lite document that mimicked the Wynne government’s willingness to use a carbon tax to fund a raft of voter-friendly giveaways. The other candidates — Granic Allen, Caroline Mulroney, Christine Elliott and Doug Ford — already faced a challenge in explaining where they’d find the money for new programs without the carbon tax, which they oppose. Now they must also try to deal with a former leader traipsing around the province undermining the party’s credibility while selfishly hogging the stage.

It was never going to be easy to defeat the Liberals in June. Despite their appalling record and deep unpopularity, Wynne’s government has shown itself to be ruthlessly self-serving in its determination to save itself, at whatever damage to the province. Of the four non-Brown candidates, none was guaranteed of victory. Elliott is experienced and capable but lacks flair; Mulroney is youthful and intelligent but has never held public office before. Nonetheless, either might prove a credible choice, given the opportunity.

Brown is wrecking that opportunity.

As economist Stephen Gordon has noted, Ontario’s government is “by far the most venal and incompetent in the country,” yet appears set to rule forever due to opposition parties that have made themselves unelectable. The Tories are striving to remove themselves from that category, and have a difficult path to negotiate to have any chance of success. Brown couldn’t do more to destroy that chance if he tried. His ill-considered campaign shows a disheartening lack of integrity and sense. The Tories have a chance in two weeks to firmly dissociate themselves from him, and should do so. It would be a credit to the party and a strong statement of their focus on the province and its desperate need of good government, rather than self-defeating internal quarrels.

Ontario politics have become the car wreck at which we can't help but stare in fascination.

The incumbent Liberal govt – by far the most venal and incompetent in the country – is going to rule forever, because the opposition parties have managed to make themselves unelectable.

When my assistant said there was a call from the White House, I picked up, said 'Hello' and started to ask if this was a prank

This Week's Flyers

Comments

Postmedia is pleased to bring you a new commenting experience. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. Visit our community guidelines for more information.